Sticks and stones my break my bones but accidents do make for surprises

There’s always that one time in your life when you feel everything is going right..... and then all of the sudden everything comes crashing down around you. I personally had this while I was working on a costume store project for my Uni course in 2012.

During the weekends I had a part time bakery job and I fell down 2 flights of metal stairs and broke my right arm. Now for most people this wouldn’t have been a problem; however when you’re a costumier and your right hand is your sewing hand it does tend to become an issue. I was instructed no machines, heavy fabrics or heavy lifting - so how was I supposed to pass my unit?

The answer came in the Breathe Project which was part of the 2012 cultural Olympiad. Diverse City are a cast of 64 disabled and non disabled performers from both the UK and Brazil who put together in a diverse project which became commissioned by the Unlimited programme.

The story behind the project was that Seven Wind Gatherers came together from all over to compete in a battle to see whose wind will be chosen to start the sailing events. However the battle is interrupted by the arrival of 'The Breathers' (The Breathe Project) who are uninvited guests that have washed ashore from many lands.

'The Breathers' find that no one has the strength needed to become the only gatherer to send the boats out to sea.They start performing however they get silenced by the evil Doldrum who takes some of them. The Breathers show that through a performance of aerial work, song and dance, theatre and circus skills that they are the force that can set the winds free. They help the sailing events to begin.

As I was unable to sew any of the costumes, I set my mind to the textural elements, as well as the colours. To begin with I helped to dye the base costumes in a variety of sand and earth colours; these took two days over all to do due to the quantity of them. As well as this I added a mixture of white paint, acrylic and sand to create sea enemies. It’s quite good fun trying to work out patterns of formations which would be highlighted in stage lighting.

Using various ropes, wool and strings I plaited, wove and crocheted bracelets which were worn by the builders group and they also had latex seaweed woven through them for added authenticity. The base costumes came to life with woollen plaited seaweed and barnacles in an array of colours.

In Earth colours, plaited strings got added to overalls and crocheted ropes were added as ties to cloaks. I also ended up making a few thousand crochet and acrylic shaped barnacles, as well as teaching others how to make these through a series of workshops.

The performance was incredible and everyone looked amazing on stage. It was wonderful to see that it doesn’t matter who you are, there is always a way to perform.